Kurt Pellegrino surprised many when he announced last week on his website that he was stepping away from MMA, effectively retiring as a fighter. But to those closest to him, it likely didn't come as a surprise at all.

"I've been thinking about retirement since (fighting) Josh Neer (at UFC 101 in August 2009)," Pellegrino told host Ariel Helwani on Monday's edition of "The MMA Hour." "I've been talking to my wife about it since then, anyway. When it was time to do it, I just said, 'Do it now.'"

Pellegrino said he wrote the post on his site, published it, and tried to not look back.

"I wrote this thing all out and pressed send," Pellegrino recalled. "I left my house and drove around for a bit. That was how I dealt with it, because it was a hard thing to do. Do I want to fight again? Right now, I kind of don't."